168. KeePass Password Safe 2.10http://keepass.infoWindows | PortableYou have a lot of passwords. They're not all the same. And your memory is like a sieve with particularly large holes in it. KeePass is your software vault. It uses AES and Twofish algorithms to encrypt all the passwords (and everything else) it holds for you. And it's portable, so you can put it on a USB flash drive and take it with you anywhere, storing nothing locally. If you suck at making passwords, it'll generate strong ones you can use. It doesn't integrate much with the browser, but if you use Firefox, the KeeFox plug-in takes care of that.

169. LastPasshttp://lastpass.com/Windows | Mac | Linux
We don't hand out 5-star ratings to many products, but LastPass got one last year and became our Editors' Choice for password managers. Security expert Neil J. Rubenking says it has almost every feature of the competition (like auto-filling in browser forms), as well as a few unique tricks of its own. Your info is stored securely online, so you can share it across operating systems (and, if you're willing to pay a $1 a month, with your mobile smartphone) and integrate with multiple Web browsers (IE, Firefox, and Chrome at the moment, plus Safari on the Mac).
 Read PCMag's review of LastPass.

170. TrueCrypthttp://www.truecrypt.orgWindows | Mac | LinuxOpen-source TrueCrypt creates a virtual disk for your most important data which it then encrypts, or you can just encrypt an entire drive or partition, even the one on which Windows is installed. The strength is AES-256 and it's automatic, happening in real-time when files are saved.

Eric narrowly averted a career in food service when he began in tech publishing at Ziff-Davis over 20 years ago. He was on the founding staff of Windows Sources, FamilyPC, and Access Internet Magazine (all defunct, and it's not his fault). He's the author of two novels, BETA TEST ("an unusually lighthearted apocalyptic tale"--Publishers' Weekly) and KALI: THE GHOSTING OF SEPULCHER BAY. He works from his home in Ithaca, NY.
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